Archive | Africa

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the African Union Commission (AUC) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was signed on July 5 at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa. The MoU defines the areas of cooperation between the two bodies in support of regional capacity building to reduce post harvest losses. […]

The Minister of Trade and Industry expressed dissatisfaction that packaging in Ghana is at its elementary stage, saying it contributed to product damage and postharvest loss. The Minister highlighted that packaging has been identified as “one of the major reasons for the failure of locally manufactured good to compete favorably with imported goods”. She spoke […]

Following its receipt of a $11.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme announced today it will partner with the Ministry of Agriculture to support the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA). http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=2961

Compatible Technology International (CIT) focuses on developing small-scale technology for rural farmers to process crops and produce efficiently. The McKnight Organization (with SUA and ICRASAT) has given them a grant of $673,000 for a 4-year R&D project focusing on Malawi and Tanzania, focusing on adding value and reducing postharvest loss. http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/empowering-impoverished-communities-with-compatible-technologies-post-harvest-loss-food-waste-storage-corn-hunger/

The East African Community has kicked-off negotiations for the creation of a common commodity exchange to boost growers’ earnings and availability of food. The bloc is in talks with an independent international consultancy, Nicolas Berggruen Institute (NBI), that comprises a group of former heads of state and global entrepreneurs to help create the facility. The planned commodity […]

2011 Dell Social Innovation Competition – Second place winner was MaloTraders, a group dealing with using cutting-edge technology to help with postharvest loss in Mali. http://studentcompetitions.com/posts/winners-of-dell-social-innovation-competition-2011

Postharvest grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated at around US$4 billion a year, according to a World Bank and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report. The lost food, according to the report, titled: ‘Missing Food: The Case of Post-Harvest Grain Losses in sub-Saharan Africa’, could meet the minimum annual food requirements of at least 48 […]

Nigeria has conducted a study to understand the monetary and physical losses in their agricultural sector. Focusing on government involvement in order to use agricultural as a means of rural development (and to facilitate social cohesion). http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nesg-nigeria-loses-n1-2tr-yearly-to-poor-agric-devt/93198/

The Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF) has proposed the establishment of an agricultural commodity exchange to bring producers, buyers and consumers together to trade on a common platform. This, PEF explained, would provide ready market for farm gate products from agricultural centers and thereby help to reduce post harvest losses. http://www.modernghana.com/news/330531/1/pef-calls-for-commodity-exchange-for-agric.html